It’s 2012!!! And an alien space ship didn’t whisk us all away! That means we got to be extra on point since it looks probable that we’re going to be staying here awhile. The energy in and around Zuccotti Park, New Years Eve was incredible! Responsible parents started the evening by setting up a small tent for their kids to hang out in while the parents exercised their right to assemble in Liberty Plaza and NYPD was not okay with it!

After the tent fiasco – I went with a group to 1 Police Plaza and we all mic checked the people behind bars. We all blew horns and chanted different chants outside the prison so the prisoner’s would know OWS was fighting for them. It was definitely the highlight of the night. I was so overwhelmed I had to sit down…

Here’s the library occupying outside 1 Police Plaza…

Here’s some video of what the event looked like (video by Mickey Z):

After hanging outside the jails for awhile, Homeland Security showed up and shortly after that we started marching around ChinaTown. The cops caught up with us a few blocks into the march, and since I had the People’s Library on my back, I realized I needed to stop marching and get the books to Liberty Square. By the time I got back to the park, it was about 10:30pm and everyone had started taking the barricades down. I set up the library….

Immediately a couple people were brought nearby the library to be treated for pepper spray wounds. I began prepping myself for a scary/violent night as the crowd seemingly started to panic and for a moment I thought everyone was going to explode. But surprisingly the cops backed off from about 11:30-1:15am. They let us revel in our newly erected Barricade Mountain.. And it felt good for us to have a moment of victory.

Sometime after 1:15 most of the crowd left on a march up to the Lower East Side. After the majority of people left the park, NYPD came in full force.

At the end of the night there were hundreds of cops surrounding the park and only a hand full of demonstrators inside. A few demonstrators were arrested for refusing to leave barricade mountain. My night ended when this guy demanded, “Everyone out of the park! The park is now closed!”

We need to remember, it’s not about taking the park! OWS is about changing America! Occupying every aspect of our lives. So that 2012 can be a year for everyone. We need to end poverty. End the Prisoner Society. We can make a better future for everyone. Let’s remember that the OWS movement was started to change America, to change the whole world, to restructure what we conceive the human experience to be, we’re out here to elevate consciousness -not take back a park- as we press forward into 2012. America is not broke, the wealth is just being hoarded. It’s time we reclaim the resources of the world and give them back to everyone.